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Fleet Management node 9.0 convergence

Background


VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.x introduced VCF Operations fleet management node as part of VCF Operations.


This node was solely responsible for managing your lifecycle for Management Components which include

  • VCF Automation

  • VCF Operations

  • VCF Operations for Logs

  • VCF Operations for Networks

  • VCF Identity broker


Fleet management node 9.0.x was responsible for

  • Installation

  • Patching

  • Upgrades

  • Day-N actions

  • Backup and Restore



The Inside Story of Convergence


From the customer's perspective, the VCF Operations fleet management node or appliance, regardless of its name, includes the complete inventory of management components in version 9.0.x.


With the implementation of the new Fleet lifecycle and SDDC lifecycle, the key factor is ensuring a seamless transfer of the entire inventory, so the customer experiences no interruptions.


This necessitated a convergence.


In VCF 9.0, both VCF Operations and the VCF Operations fleet management node are integrated. This integration is clearly visible in the Admin UI of VCF Operations.

When planning and executing the upgrade from VCF Operations 9.0.x to 9.1, if VCF Operations 9.0.x is integrated with the fleet management node, it prompts for the root password.


This password is used by VCF Operations to connect to the fleet management node and initiate the convergence process once it upgrades to version 9.1.


As part of convergence process, following data is fetched and stored into VCF Operations

  • Inventory

  • Service accounts

  • Settings

  • Certificates

  • Content management endpoints

  • Marketplace


All of this occurs automatically and can be monitored by the customer in the Admin UI and the VCF Operations 9.1 UI.


Different statemachines which are invoked are shared below

  1. Start 

  2. Start Convergence

  3. Collect Fleet Management appliance details

  4. Remove Service Registry

  5. Collect Service Accounts 

  6. Collect Component Inventory

  7. Populate Service Accounts

  8. Populate Component Inventory Details

  9. Collect and Populate Certificates and CSR 

  10. Collect and Populate Content Management Source Control endpoints

  11. Collect and Populate Marketplace

  12. Power-Off Fleet Management Appliance

  13. Finish Convergence


This entire process can be viewed under 

### Fleet Management Data Convergence Log Location ### 
/storage/log/vcops/log/component-manager-plugin-**.log

### Example log snippets ###
2026-05-12T13:07:56.470Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1259" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-5" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.PopulateServiceAccountTask.execute] - Populating service account details...

2026-05-12T13:07:56.662Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1259" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-5" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.PopulateServiceAccountTask.execute] - Populating service account details completed.

2026-05-12T13:07:57.070Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1264" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-6" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.PopulateServiceAccountTask.execute] - Populating inventory details...

2026-05-12T13:07:57.371Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1264" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-6" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.PopulateServiceAccountTask.execute] - Populating inventory details completed.

2026-05-12T13:07:57.669Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1266" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-7" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectSettingsTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm settings data...

2026-05-12T13:07:57.740Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1266" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-7" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectSettingsTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm settings data completed.

2026-05-12T13:07:58.265Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1268" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-8" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectCertificateTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm csr and certificate data...

2026-05-12T13:08:00.214Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1268" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-8" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectCertificateTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm csr and certificate data completed.

2026-05-12T13:08:00.741Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1290" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-9" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectContentManagementTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm content management endpoints data...

2026-05-12T13:08:05.252Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1290" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-9" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectContentManagementTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm content management endpoints data completed.

2026-05-12T13:08:05.482Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1290" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-9" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectMarketplaceTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm marketplace details data...

2026-05-12T13:08:05.954Z INFO component-manager-plugin 32205 [ops@4413 threadId="1290" threadName="ComponentManagerTaskEngine-9" operationId=""] [com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.commonplugin.migration.tasks.CollectMarketplaceTask.execute] - Populating legacy lcm marketplace details data completed.


Once the convergence happens , the fleet management node is SHUTDOWN.


No Man's Land


After you upgrade VCF Operations to version 9.1 and before deploying the new Fleet lifecycle and SDDC lifecycle, there is a period where you lack a lifecycle management system for your management components.


Don't remain in this state. This is when you need to upgrade your SDDC Manager from version 9.0 to 9.1, enabling you to deploy the new VCF Management services or components, which include:

  • VCF Services runtime

  • Fleet lifecycle

  • SDDC lifecycle

  • Salt RaaS

  • Salt Master

  • Software Depot

  • Telemetry

  • Identity Broker


This cannot be avoided as your transitioning the lifecycle management system.



Fleet Lifecycle & SDDC Lifecycle


Once you have the new Fleet & SDDC lifecycle deployed , they will reach out to VCF Operations 9.1 , fetch the data from the VCF Operations and store in itself.


This is how the old inventory of the management components are stored into the new lifecycle services.


Here's the exact task name where it happens "Import VCF Operations in Fleet Lifecycle " under Build - Lifecycle - Tasks


which correlates with


"Install Components: VCF Operations [SDDC LCM ID : xxyyzz ]




If you would like to deep dive into the logs you need to check the SDDC Build service (SDDC Lifecycle) logs during this operations.

All of the snippets mentioned below will be in console.**.log of SDDC Build service (SDDC Lifecycle)


The task id in the above screenshot becomes crucial when you want to look into the logs. Remember this task id in UI correlates to correlation ID in the console logs. 


console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:35:54.383843876Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:35:54.379Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="https-jsse-nio-9134-exec-3" logger="c.b.v.l.s.b.c.ComponentsController" method="createComponents:102"] [] - Starting create components workflow with correlation ID: 019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3

console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:35:54.406946489Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:35:54.405Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="https-jsse-nio-9134-exec-3" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.ConductorTaskService" method="startTask:171"] [] - Starting task INSTALL_COMPONENTS_WORKFLOW with input : {"name":"INSTALL_COMPONENTS_WORKFLOW","version":null,"correlationId":"019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3","input":{"data":{"componentSpecs":{"componentSpecs":[{"deploymentType":"ComponentImportSpec","componentType":"OPS","version":"9.1.0.0","repository":null,"fqdn":"vcfops1.arun.local","sslThumbprint":null,"certificate":"*****","username":"admin","password":"*****","size":null,"vmId":null}]}}},"taskToDomain":{},"workflowDef":null,"externalInputPayloadStoragePath":null,"priority":0,"createdBy":null,"idempotencyKey":null,"idempotencyStrategy":null}

console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:35:54.777512261Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:35:54.776Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="https-jsse-nio-9134-exec-3" logger="c.b.v.l.s.b.c.ComponentsController" method="createComponents:110"] [] - Create components task 019e2043-7d4f-7c5e-9f77-cec38b44161c started (correlation ID: 019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3)

console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:35:58.047165721Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:35:58.046Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-12" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:62"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e2043-7d4f-7c5e-9f77-cec38b44161c] - Starting step: PREPARE_COMPONENT_INSTALL_TASK:prepare_component_install_tasks_ref from workflow INSTALL_COMPONENTS_WORKFLOW

console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:35:58.254298412Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:35:58.253Z DEBUG sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-12" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:70"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e20437d4f-7c5e-9f77-cec38b44161c] - Completed PREPARE_COMPONENT_INSTALL_TASK from workflow INSTALL_COMPONENTS_WORKFLOW with output {"dynamicTasks":[{"subWorkflowParam":{"name":"IMPORT_OPS_WORKFLOW","version":1},"name":"IMPORT_OPS_WORKFLOW","description":"Install component: OPS","taskReferenceNam

e":"component_install_0","type":"SUB_WORKFLOW"}],"dynamicTasksInput":{"component_install_0":{"data":{"componentImportSpec":{"deploymentType":"ComponentImportSpec","componentType":"OPS","version":"9.1.0.0","repository":null,"fqdn":"vcfops1.arun.local","sslThumbprint":null,"certificate":"*****","username":"admin","password":"*****","size":null,"vmId":null},"vcEndpoint":{"address":"vcenter-1.vrack.vsphere.local","username":"svc-sddclcm-vc-019e2035-34a0-7e70-b2d1-875651643a09@vsphere.local","password":"*****"}}}}}

console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:36:11.80002021Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:36:11.799Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-20" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:62"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e2043-939c-773e-923b-d7a039487a57] - Starting step: ADD_COMPONENT_CERT_TO_TRUST_STORE_TASK:add_component_cert_to_ts_task_ref from workflow IMPORT_OPS_WORKFLOW

console-log-1778658283.log:2026-05-13T07:36:12.060027166Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:36:12.058Z DEBUG sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-20" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:70"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e2043-939c-773e-923b-d7a039487a57] - Completed ADD_COMPONENT_CERT_TO_TRUST_STORE_TASK from workflow IMPORT_OPS_WORKFLOW with output null

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:47:55.047752077Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:47:55.046Z DEBUG sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-19" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:41"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Starting DISCOVER_VCFA_COMPONENT_TASK from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW with input {"componentImportSpec":{"deploymentType":"ComponentImportSpec","componentType":"VCFA","version":"9.0.2.0","repository":null,"fqdn":"vcfa1.*.*.*","sslThumbprint":null,"certificate":"*****","username":"vmware-system-user","password":"*****","size":"small","vmId":"629d1a88-95b9-43b6-87df-ff6ffe2cabfd"}}

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:47:55.047884229Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:47:55.047Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-19" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:62"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Starting step: DISCOVER_VCFA_COMPONENT_TASK:discover_vcfa_component_task_ref from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:47:59.733351553Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:47:59.732Z DEBUG sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-19" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:70"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Completed DISCOVER_VCFA_COMPONENT_TASK from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW with output {"component":{"id":"629d1a88-95b9-43b6-87df-ff6ffe2cabfd","componentType":"VCFA","deploymentType":"VSP","version":"9.0.2.0.25145732","size":"small","fqdn":"vcfa1.*.*.*","certificate":"*****","nodes":null,"scope":"FLEET","vcenter":null,"vspCluster":null},"credentials":{"username":"vmware-system-user","password":"*****"}}

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:48:00.108046844Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:48:00.107Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-20" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:62"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Starting step: CHECK_COMPONENT_MAX_ALLOWED_VERSION_TASK:check_component_max_allowed_version_task_ref from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:48:00.166998045Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:48:00.166Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-20" logger="c.b.v.l.s.b.a.CheckComponentMaxAllowedVersionAction" method="execute:96"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Component "vcfa1.*.*.*" version 9.0.2.0.25145732 is within the supported line 9.1.0.x

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:48:00.167273122Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:48:00.166Z DEBUG sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-20" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:70"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Completed CHECK_COMPONENT_MAX_ALLOWED_VERSION_TASK from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW with output null

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:48:16.77334785Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:48:16.772Z INFO  sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-21" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:62"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Starting step: PERSIST_VSP_COMPONENT_TASK:persist_vcfa_component_task_ref from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW

console-log-1778659219.log:2026-05-13T07:48:17.210866041Z stdout F 2026-05-13T07:48:17.210Z DEBUG sddc-build-service 44 [lcm@4413 scPath="ops" thread="system-task-worker-21" logger="c.b.v.l.t.o.s.step.AbstractSyncStep" method="start:70"] [019e2042-d187-7942-801f-d0ab980307b3, taskId=019e204d-3104-7de3-986c-0bc9cda2e908] - Completed PERSIST_VSP_COMPONENT_TASK from workflow IMPORT_VCFA_WORKFLOW with output {"componentId":"629d1a88-95b9-43b6-87df-ff6ffe2cabfd"}


Now you can see the end state where the Fleet lifecycle takes up the role of lifecycle management system and it has VCF Automation 9.0.2 being imported from VCF Operations 9.1 post convergence for customer to upgrade.




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